Management of mother′s colostrum for very low birth weight infant: a qualitative study

Objective To explore the problems of colostrum management in mothers of very low birth weight infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) under the condition of mother-infant separation so as to provide reference for the colostrum oral immunization treatment and early micro-feeding.

Methods Qualitative research was carried out based on explanatory descriptive methods, and 24 mothers of very low birth weight infants were selected from the NICU as interviewees. One to one structured in-depth semi-structured interviews were performed, and each sentence of every interview was recorded. The analysis was carried out by continuous comparison.

Results Five difficulties during colostrum management in mothers of very low birth weight infants included ineffective implementation of early and regular milk, lack of knowledge and technical skills in collecting colostrum, attention needed for stress and psychological support, uncontrolled colostrum quality during transfer, and lack of systematic management in health education support of colostrum management.

Conclusion Medical staff should support and help puerperas by systematic management measures in the early milk secretion, collection, transport, health education application, solve the problems encountered during the colostrum management on the basis of clinical practice, so as to improve the implementation rates of oral immunotherapy and early microfeeding for very low birth weight infant and promote the growth and development.